Wednesday's news in 5 minutes.

1. Man accused of killing two girlfriends allegedly let children find their mum’s dead body on Mother’s Day.

“We can’t wake mummy”: Man accused of killing two girlfriends ‘let children find corpse on Mother’s Day’ https://t.co/nJdXAdxErG pic.twitter.com/ikF9ewT8Xo

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) June 20, 2017

A 52-year-old chef is on trial, accused of killing two women – one in 2006 and the other in 2011 – in “strikingly similar circumstances”, BBC reports.

Robert Trigg was arrested after police noticed “significant similarities” between the deaths of Susan Nicholson and Caroline Devlin. Robert has been charged with the murder of Susan and the manslaughter of Caroline.

Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex, England, this week heard that Robert said he woke to find Susan dead on the sofa, five years after he said he woke up to Caroline’s dead body in bed.

The court also heard that he did not call emergency services for either of the woman, and even allowed one of Caroline’s young children to find her dead on Mother’s Day morning.

Jurors were told that a child of the 35-year-old went to ask her what she wanted for breakfast, but found her “naked body and believed she was asleep”.

The alarm was raised when one of Caroline’s sons told a neighbour they “couldn’t wake up mummy”.

Robert said he had woken to find Caroline lying face down in the bed “at opposite ends of the bed pillows”. A post-mortem examination recorded her death as being caused by an aneurysm, despite no physical findings to support the conclusion.

Five years later, Susan was also found dead in her sleep.

Once again, Robert did not call an ambulance, and alerted a neighbour that he might have rolled over onto her during their sleep on a sofa. Post-mortem tests considered his reason for her death as plausible.

When the women’s deaths were re-examined, the court heard Dr Nathaniel Cary concluded Susan had suffocated after having her head forced into the sofa, and Caroline had died from a blow to her head.

Prosecuting Duncan Atkinson QC, told the court about the striking similarities between the cases: Mr Trigg was romantically linked to both women, he and the women were intoxicated at the time of their deaths, both died while Robert claimed they were asleep, and he did not call for help until well after they had died.

Robert Trigg has pleaded not guilty to both charges. His trial continues this week.

If you or someone you know is in need of help, please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT.

2. A four-year-old girl has drowned in a bathtub in her own home in Sydney.

#NEWS: 4 year old drowns in Sydney. Little girl found unconscious in a bath at home. #sun7 pic.twitter.com/OoPy0hz6hS

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 20, 2017

Police are investigating the drowning death of a four-year-old girl in a bath at a western Sydney home, AAP reports.

The girl was found unresponsive in the bath at the Bellerive Close property in West Hoxton about 6.15pm on Tuesday.

Ambulance officers performed CPR before taking her to Liverpoool Hospital in a critical condition.

She died shortly afterwards.

Police are preparing a report for the coroner, but it’s believed the little girl’s death was a tragic accident.

Officers from Green Valley Local Area Command have established a crime scene at the home and will investigate the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death.

3. Driver jailed over crash that caused a pregnant woman to lose her unborn child.

Jason Mansweto has been jailed for two years and nine months for an horrific crash which cost the life of an unborn child. #9News pic.twitter.com/4wMBNu22Mo

— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) June 20, 2017

A driver has been jailed for at least two years and nine months over a crash into a Sydney home that injured four people, including a pregnant woman who lost her baby.

Vanessa Farrugia was 20 weeks pregnant as she stood on the verandah saying goodbye to friends when Jason Mansweto’s car smashed into the Windsor Downs house in June 2014.

Her horrific injuries led to her baby dying in utero the next day and to her undergoing forced labour and delivery induced by medication.

On Tuesday, in Parramatta District Court, Judge Jeffery McLennan jailed the motor mechanic for four years and six months, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months, AAP reports.

The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to charges including driving dangerously occasioning grievous bodily harm to Ms Farrugia and to Sylvia Vella, whose left leg was badly injured.

Two other people on the verandah received relatively minor injuries.

According to court papers presented at a previous hearing, Mansweto had just finished rebuilding an “iconic” 1969 GT Ford Falcon XW model sedan, which was unregistered but bore plates with the number 69AGRO, according to court papers.

The mechanic, who was test driving the car for the first time, had never bolted the steering wheel onto the column from the time he bought it, having put the nut in the car console.

Meanwhile, Ms Farrugia was about to leave her friends’ house.

“They were saying goodbye when they suddenly head the loud sound of a car engine,” the papers said.

“They looked across the driveway and saw a car coming up the road straight towards them.

“They had only seconds to try and get out of the way.”

Mansweto applied the brakes to slow down for a corner but when they didn’t work he pumped the brake with his foot and pulled back on the steering wheel, which came off in his hands.

Ms Farrugia, who was thrown back into the house and knocked to the floor, suffered terrible injuries including fractures to her skull, face and foot, a large deep cut to her forehead and leakage of spinal fluid under her skull.

She’s been left with a permanent loss of her sense of smell, and had a craniotomy for her brain injury, plastic surgery for her facial injuries and numerous other operations.

4. Trump blasts North Korea as a “brutal regime” after death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier.

The U.S. once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim. Video: https://t.co/Rvm11ZbPk7

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

US President Donald Trump has called North Korea a “brutal regime” following the death of 22-year-old college student Otto Warmbier, who had been serving a 15 year jail sentence for trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting the reclusive state.

“Lot of bad things happened but at least we got him home to be with his parents,” Trump said.

Warmbier was released by North Korea last week after being held for more than 17 months. He was in a coma.

His family said in a statement that “the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans” meant that “no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.”

Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour in North Korea, convicted of subversion after tearfully confessing to trying to steal the banner.

5. Touching footage shows adult elephants rush to rescue baby elephant from a pool.

This elephant family springs into action when they spot their calf drowning pic.twitter.com/0r4uCGjtjx

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 20, 2017

Touching footage has emerged of two adults rushing to help a baby elephant from drowning, after it fell into a pool in a zoo enclosure.

The CCTV footage from Grand Park Zoo in Seoul, South Korea, shows the elephant calf losing balance while near the water’s edge and falling into the pool.

The two adult elephants then rush to help, running into the water as the calf struggles to keep it’s trunk above water in the deep end.

The older elephants then work together to push the calf towards the shallow end of the pool to safety.

According to ABC News, zoo officials confirmed that all three animals are healthy and safe after the dramatic rescue effort.

6. According to a new survey, one-third of preschoolers own a smart phone.

It appears owning a smartphone or tablet is the new normal for Australian children, raising serious health concerns among pediatricians.

The latest Australian Child Health Poll shows one-third of preschoolers and two- thirds of primary school-aged children own such devices and 50 per cent of them are using them unsupervised.

Paediatrician Dr Anthea Rhodes, director of the national poll, says knowing so many very young children are spending too much time on devices is a “worrying” trend.

Dr Rhodes says there is very little evidence to support the idea a smartphone or tablet boosts a toddler’s development.

But there is plenty of evidence linking excessive use to health problems.

“Particularly with sleep difficulties, problems related to unhealthy weight gain and then difficulties with social and emotional wellbeing,” Dr Rhodes said.

One of the poll’s most significant findings, was that almost half of children regularly used screen-based devices at bedtime, with one in four reporting sleep problems as a result.

Two-thirds of families reported family conflict relating to screen time use and 85 per cent of parents admitted using screens to occupy kids in order to get things done.

The poll also identified a link between parents’ screen use and their children’s use of screens.

“Basically, a parent who has high levels of screen use is more likely to have a child with high levels of use. Three quarters of parents of children under six also said they do not put time limits on screen use,” said Dr Rhodes.

Of any age group, teens spend the most amount of time on a screen-based device at home.

They average almost 44 hours of use per week – that’s more time spent for the average full time job.

Teenagers using screens routinely at bedtime were also more likely to report bullying via social media.

As a pediatrician at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Dr Rhodes increasingly sees the consequences of such excessive screen and media use in children.

She says physical playtime and face-to-face contact is critical for a young child’s brain and body development.

“Every hour a child spends engaged by themselves on a device like that is an hour they’re not doing something like being physically active or having face-to-face play and social interaction.”

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